wfn.org | Pentecost Offering benefits children

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org>]

Note #7130 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

17-April-2002
02148

Pentecost Offering benefits children

Congregations urged to be creative in addressing local needs

by Alexa Smith

LOUISVILLE - On page 3 of a brochure headlined "Gifts of the Spirit for the Common Good" is a list of ways congregations can use their share of the upcoming Pentecost Offering to help kids deemed "at risk."

Forty percent of the money collected in the newest Presbyterian Church (USA) offering will be kept by local congregations to pay for projects for children-at-risk. The other 60 percent will go to national-level programs for children, youth and young adults, including Young Adult Volunteers, the Child Advocacy Office and the Presbyterian Youth Connection.

The offering is to be made on Pentecost Sunday, May 19.

"This is an important mission emphasis for the church," says Billie Healy, the PC(USA) associate for mission education resources, pointing out that the offering is growing every year.

How might local churches invest their portion of the offering? Among the suggestions:

* Support Presbyterian Children's Homes and related ministries.

* Start a mentoring program for teenage mothers.

* Help pay for programs that expose disadvantaged children to the arts.

* Buy equipment for a job-skills training program for young people.

* Provide child care for immigrants looking for work.

* Support a program that provides a loving environment for children rescued from abusive homes.

Healy says people know best what is needed in their own communities.

As an example, she points to First Presbyterian Church, of Manitowoc, WI, the congregation featured in a free five-minute video created by the Mission Interpretation and Promotion Office for use as a "Minute for Mission" or as an educational resource on the Pentecost Offering.

The Manitowoc church raised $30,000 for local mission and used it to help parents purchase back-to-school shoes for needy children. First Church enlisted a nearby Payless Shoe Store and local social-service agencies as partners in the program.

"We just thought, 'There are children in our community who have needs ... and shoes are expensive,'" says the Rev. Bill Plank, the church's pastor. "So we just figured out what we could do so that young children ... can start school with new shoes."

Most of the children don't know that the church is paying for their new shoes, Plank says. All they know is that their parents are taking them shopping.

Local demand for "Soles for Souls" services is so great that the church has decided to use its Pentecost Offering money to sustain the project.

Healy says that is exactly the sort of creative local application the offering is designed to stimulate. She says many churches partner with their presbyteries or with other congregations.

The General Assembly changed the offering in 2000, doubling the percentage of the money that stays with local churches, to encourage PC(USA) congregations to meet the needs of children-at-risk.

Fifty percent of the offering goes for national ministries with youth and young adults, while 10 percent supports child-advocacy efforts.

For free promotional materials, including worship resources, reproducible art and Bible-study guides, call Presbyterian Distribution Services toll-free at (800) 524-2612. 

For further information, visit the Pentecost Offering Web site, which can be accessed through the main PC(USA) page at www.pcusa.org, or contact Healy by phone at (888) 728-7228, ext. 5689, or by email at Bhealy@ctr.pcusa.org.
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